Handle for sliding doors.



D. W. MILLSAP S. HANDLE FOR SLIDING DpOB-S. APPLICATION l rLnn mm: 4, mo.

972,773. Patented 00t.1 1.1-910.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL W. MILLSAPS, OF MARION, SOUTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR TO THE MILLSAPS COMPANY, OF MARION, SOUTH CAROLINA, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

HANDLE FOR SLIDING DOORS.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Application filed June 4, 1910. Serial No. 565,079.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL IV. MILLsArs, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Marion, in the county of Marion and State of South Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Handles for Sliding Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for opening freight car doors. It is the universal custom to use on freight cars doors which slide edgewise between upper and lower tracks, and the person operating the door usually stands on the ground by the side of the car and grasps the door near the bottom, a handle at the bottom being sometimes provided for this purpose. It has been found in practice that it is often very difficult to move the door by pushing or pulling it at the bottom, since it will stick, and will often be come jammed between the two tracks because of the tilting effect due to the application of power only to its lower edge. Efforts have heretofore been made to overcome this difficulty by providing means for raising the door and supporting it from theupper track, while it is being moved, but the mechanism so used is quite complicated and expensive, since it requires a re-organization of the door and the car.

It is the object of my invention to provide a very simple device which may be easily and quickly secured to any freight car door now in use without any change in the car or door, and which will serve to enable the operator standing by the side of the car to easily open or close any door which would become jammed if the effort were made to open it in the old way by hand, as above described.

\Vith this object in View, my invention consists in the novel features of construction which will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the ac companying drawings.

In the drawings,Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a freight car having my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is detail view of the preferred form of pole for operating the door; Fig. 4 is a modified form of pole; and Fig. 5 is a detail view of the rod which is secured to the car door.

As shown in these drawings, the freight car 1 is provided with the upper and lower tracks '2, 3, upon which the car door 4 is adapted to travel in the usual and well known way. The usual way of moving this door is for the operator standing by the side of the car to grasp the handle 5 which is at the bottom of the door and consequently within his reach, and to pull on this handle in the direction in which it is desired that the door shall move; This pull tends to tip the door, and there are universal complaints as to how hard it is to open the doors of freight cars. My invention embodies a rod 6, secured across the door near the top thereof, and I prefer to place it in about the position shown in Fig. 1. This rod may be easily and quickly applied to any door, by means of the screws 7, or by other suitable fastening means. I preferably use in connection with this rod a pole 8, which has at its upper end a metal eye 9 which fits over the rod 6, so that the eye may slide along that rod to any position desired, and the pole will be permanently held by the rod. This pole extends down toward the bottom of the door so that it can be grasped by the operator standing on the ground. The lower end of the pole is normally free, although I provide a spring catch 10 into which the free end may be pushed when the pole is not in use so that it will be held against movement, and will not hang freely from the side of the car. In addition to the spring catch I may if desired use a positive locking pin 11 passing through the jaws of the spring catch, so as to positively lock the pole in place and prevent it from accidentally becoming displaced. This locking pin may be held by a short chain secured to the car door.

In operation, the pole is grasped by the person wishing to open the door and is placed at an incline, as shown in Fig. 1, in the direction in which the door is to move and it will be found that an upward and forward pressure on this pole will easily move a door which would otherwise stick. The power being applied at the upper part of the door and being directed somewhat in an upward direction, tends to slightly lift the door and at the same time has no tendency to tip the door so as to make it bind. The pole may be adjusted to any position desired along the rod 6, and it can be operated at the center of that rod as well as at the ends, since placing it at an angle makes it bind on the rod with suflicient friction to permit moving the door without slipping. It will be found in practice that it will in most instrnces be easier to move the door when the pole is at the forward end of therod, but'.1n some cases the pole should be near the center. When the eye 9 is at one end in opening the door it should of course slide along the rod and be at the other end when the door is closed. The rod 6 therefore constitutes a track-way upon which the operating pole may slide, and the pole may be made to frictionally engage the track-way in adjusted. positions to operate the door.

Instead of using a pole having an eye permanently securing it to the rod, I may make use of a pole 12, such as shown in Fig. 4, having a forked upper end 13 which is adapted to fit over and engage the rod without making permanent connection therewith. This form of pole in connection with the rod will operate satisfactorily and the operator may have a single pole for use on any number of cars, but the advantage of the form shown in Fig. 3 is that it will always be in position and can not be lost or misplaced. Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: p

1. The combination with a horizontally sliding door, of a rod secured across said door in a substantially horizontal position near the to and a pole having means at its upper end for engaging said rod at different points to operate said door.

2. The combination with a horizontally sliding door, of a track-way secured across ,said door near the top in a substantially horizontal position, and a pole extending from near the bottom of said door to said track-way and being provided with means at its upper end for engaging said trackway to operate said door.

3. The combination with a freight car, of a sliding door therefor, a rod parallel to the face of the door secured thereto across the upper portion thereof, and an operating pole slidably engaging said rod at its upper end and extending down near the bottom of said door.

4. The combination with a'freight car, of a sliding door therefor, a rod parallel to the face of the door secured thereto across the upper portion thereof, an operating pole slidably secured to said rod at its upper end and having its free end extending down near the bottom of said door, and means for releasably securing said free end to the door.

5. The combination with a freight car, of a sliding door therefor, a rod parallel to the face of the door secured thereto across the upper portion thereof, an operating pole having an eye at its upper end slidably fitting said rod and having its free end extending down near the bottom of said door, and a spring catch on said door for releasably holding the free end of said rod.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL W. MILLSAPS. \Vitnesses WV. K. DAVIS, T. WV. HAMILTON. 

